Tips on planning your Kerala visit

My visit to Kerala | How to get there, what to see & where to stay

For our Kerala tour, we made reservations through the office of Make My Trip where a gentleman by the name Sumit Kumar helped me with hotel and car reservations. Sumit confirmed my hotel and car reservations and was very helpful during the reservation process. We made my own travel reservations to get to Kerala. My travel itinerary for Kerala tour included visits to Ernakulum, Munnar and Kumarakom. While our hotel and car reservations through Make My Trip, we decided to make our own travel arrangements to get to Ernakulum, Kerala. we made reservations on the Konkan railway to travel the from Mumbai to Ernakulam. Tourists who have the time, should try the Konkan railway route. The Mumbai to Ernakulum train number 12223 Duronto train leaves Mumbai LLT station at 8:50 PM arriving in Cochin (Ernakulam Station) at 5:45 PM the next day. The total journey time is 17 hours and 45 minutes. This train covers the Konkan section in the daytime so you can experience the superb views. This train is pretty fast with no stop to pick up or drop off passengers. The fare for a first class air conditioned berth is Rupees 4510, approximately 75 U.S. dollars.On arrival at Ernakulum station, we were met by our pre arranged car/driver and dropped off at our first overnight hotel called Millennium Continental. This hotel is only a few minutes drive from Ernakulam Junction railway station. Millennium Continental Hotel is ranked #9 of 15 hotels in Ernakulum by TripAdvisor. This hotel has a small lobby where they have a check-in desk in one corner. The room to be clean although the washroom was pretty small with barely standing room for one person. No tub and a small corner shower. The dinning area is in the basement where they have a few tables and chairs laid out. While there is breakfast included with the room rate, you must go to the basement to eat. They had limited room service other than during the morning breakfast time. We decided to skip breakfast at the hotel next morning and eat outside. This hotel is situated in an area of residences and other similar hotels around it. The photo posted of the hotel above is what the hotel has on their website, notice its taken from the side, there is no room to stand in front of the hotel to take a full photo because of construction all around it. Our room was in the front side, check out the photo showing the view from the balcony, there is another building being constructed in front of this hotel as you can see in the photo.While in Cochin, we had the opportunity of visiting another hotel called Summit Suites. Their rates were almost similar to Millennium Continental and if you are in looking for a budget hotel with good amenities, perhaps you should also check Summit Suites and decide for yourself.Here are the website links to the two hotels in Cochin:•Hotel Millennium Continental : http://millenniumcontinental.com/ •Hotel Summit Suites: http://www.summitsuites.in/

Places to see in Kochi (Cochin)

Ask anyone as to what places to visit in Cochin and they will probably tell you that tourist generally visit, The Chinese Fishing Nets, Fort Kochi, Dutch Palace, Lulu Mall, Synagogue. However, the real Kerala experience is not in Cochin, there isn't much to see here and tourists usually travel to places like Munnar, Alleppey or Kumarakom to enjoy the scenic beauty of Kerala and its popular backwaters.

A word of thanks

The photo on the right is of our driver Rihaesh who met us at Cochin station when we arrived in Cochin and stayed with us throughout our trip in Kerala. Rihaesh is an expert driver, He kept the white Invova car shinning throughout the trip and was completely knowledgeable about the many places to visit in Kerala. We trusted this gentleman with all our belongings and he turned out to be a real gem. He drove us to Munnar, Kumarakom, all around Cochin and acted as an excellent guide. Anyone looking for a reliable driver and guide during their Kerala visit can contact Rihaesh at 91 9745307174.

My visit to Kerala | How to get there,

what to see & where to stay

For our Kerala tour, we made reservations through the office of Make My Trip where a gentleman by the name Sumit Kumar helped me with hotel and car reservations. Sumit confirmed my hotel and car reservations and was very helpful during the reservation process. We made my own travel reservations to get to Kerala. My travel itinerary for Kerala tour included visits to Ernakulum, Munnar and Kumarakom. While our hotel and car reservations through Make My Trip, we decided to make our own travel arrangements to get to Ernakulum, Kerala. we made reservations on the Konkan railway to travel the from Mumbai to Ernakulam. Tourists who have the time, should try the Konkan railway route. The Mumbai to Ernakulum train number 12223 Duronto train leaves Mumbai LLT station at 8:50 PM arriving in Cochin (Ernakulam Station) at 5:45 PM the next day. The total journey time is 17 hours and 45 minutes. This train covers the Konkan section in the daytime so you can experience the superb views. This train is pretty fast with no stop to pick up or drop off passengers. The fare for a first class air conditioned berth is Rupees 4510, approximately 75 U.S. dollars.On arrival at Ernakulum station, we were met by our pre arranged car/driver and dropped off at our first overnight hotel called Millennium Continental. This hotel is only a few minutes drive from Ernakulam Junction railway station. Millennium Continental Hotel is ranked #9 of 15 hotels in Ernakulum by TripAdvisor. This hotel has a small lobby where they have a check-in desk in one corner. The room to be clean although the washroom was pretty small with barely standing room for one person. No tub and a small corner shower. The dinning area is in the basement where they have a few tables and chairs laid out. While there is breakfast included with the room rate, you must go to the basement to eat. They had limited room service other than during the morning breakfast time. We decided to skip breakfast at the hotel next morning and eat outside. This hotel is situated in an area of residences and other similar hotels around it. The photo posted of the hotel above is what the hotel has on their website, notice its taken from the side, there is no room to stand in front of the hotel to take a full photo because of construction all around it. Our room was in the front side, check out the photo showing the view from the balcony, there is another building being constructed in front of this hotel as you can see in the photo.While in Cochin, we had the opportunity of visiting another hotel called Summit Suites. Their rates were almost similar to Millennium Continental and if you are in looking for a budget hotel with good amenities, perhaps you should also check Summit Suites and decide for yourself.Here are the website links to the two hotels in Cochin:•Hotel Millennium Continental : http://millenniumcontinental.com/ •Hotel Summit Suites: http://www.summitsuites.in/

Places to see in Kochi (Cochin)

Ask anyone as to what places to visit in Cochin and they will probably tell you that tourist generally visit, The Chinese Fishing Nets, Fort Kochi, Dutch Palace, Lulu Mall, Synagogue. However, the real Kerala experience is not in Cochin, there isn't much to see here and tourists usually travel to places like Munnar, Alleppey or Kumarakom to enjoy the scenic beauty of Kerala and its popular backwaters.

A word of thanks

The photo on the right is of our driver Rihaesh who met us at Cochin station when we arrived in Cochin and stayed with us throughout our trip in Kerala. Rihaesh is an expert driver, He kept the white Invova car shinning throughout the trip and was completely knowledgeable about the many places to visit in Kerala. We trusted this gentleman with all our belongings and he turned out to be a real gem. He drove us to Munnar, Kumarakom, all around Cochin and acted as an excellent guide. Anyone looking for a reliable driver and guide during their Kerala visit can contact Rihaesh at 91 9745307174.